It's a Wonderful Life, Seto Kaiba!
by Ozymandius
Summary: Kaiba's pride leads to a falling out with Mokuba. With Mokuba's wedding fast approaching can a spirit of the past show Seto that he still matters and that's it's never too late to correct a mistake?


Hey everyone, This is my first fic in a long time. It was actually done in January but I decided to wait until Christmas to upload it. I hope you enjoy it.

If anyone is wondering what happen to my Iron Man fic staring everyone's favorite arrogant billionaire, it still in progress, I haven't given up on it my life just kinda sucks lately and I haven't been able to focus enough to write. But a New Year is coming and maybe that will help. Either way I hope to have something soon

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_It's a Wonderful Life, Seto Kaiba!_

A warm fire was burning in the fireplace of the Kaiba mansion, its glow the only light, and its warmth all that was present. Seto Kaiba sat in a chair in front of the fireplace as he had done every night for the last four months, staring into the flames and drinking the well stocked liquor cabinet dry. The bags under his now dull blue eyes showed that he hardly slept and the silence of the mansion around him attested to his failure as a brother.

Six months ago, almost to the day, His brother Mokuba had told him the great news that he was going to marry his long time girlfriend Rebecca Hawkins. He said that he was going to get married on New Year's Eve in Miami, the place and day that he had first asked her out during their time at college together. He planned a 2 month honeymoon and then they would come home to Domino and live in the mansion with him. He wanted his brother's approval.

That had been a bad day at Kaibacorp and it had just been a series of disasters that whole month and Kaiba, who had never been fond of his brother's choice for a girlfriend, snapped. He had said she was just a gold digger more interested in his wallet than him, and that had actually been one of the nicer things he had said. Mokuba lost his temper, they argued and finally Mokuba left, they had not spoken since. At first Seto had believed that it would blow over, after all, it wasn't their first argument, he was sure they would both calm down and things would be back to normal. But the weeks turned into months and still they had not talked. Mokuba had blocked his email and changed his phone number and even though Seto had the resources to find his brother, it was clear he no longer wished to speak with him.

After two months he started drinking, after three he stopped going to work, although Kaibacorp was still running and turning a profit, and he hadn't been outside in a month. He had fired all of his employees at the mansion except for Roland, who had the duty of making sure that he wouldn't run out of alcohol. Recently his thoughts had been getting more and more self destructive and while first he was easily able to ignore such thoughts by working, since he had left Kaibacorp he lacked that distraction. And this night, he was tired. So very tired. Seto stood up and, grabbing his bottle of gin, he walked out of the mansion.

He was wandering the city for more than an hour and for the first time since he became CEO of Kaibacorp no one had bothered him. The fangirls that had once flocked around him were gone, he even ran into the Geek Squad downtown and not one of them recognized him. Wheeler even apologized for bumping into him. His wanderings took him to the downtown bridge around three in the morning. At that time the bridge was deserted and he stood staring down at the cold, dark water far below. As he stared down, all of his past failings seemed to dance before his eyes and the longer he stared the more inviting the inky blackness became. He stood on the rail and braced him self for the fall.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" a voice asked.

Seto looked and he saw before him a man wearing a robe and a strange hat. It was a lot like looking in a mirror and seeing himself wearing ridiculous clothing and glowing. 'I need to stop drinking so much' he thought.

"Who the hell are you?" he slurred, swaying dangerously.

"I'm you" he said. "Or to be more accurate, I was you, five thousand years ago in Egypt."

"Right," Seto said "I'm kind of busy jumping off this bridge right now so if you will leave me alone and go back to whatever hallucination you crawled out of."

"I can't do that. You are about to prove yourself to be a fool. And no descendant of mine is allowed to be a fool, especially one who is like me."

"Whatever. So tell me what do I need to do to make you go away?"

"Live."

"Give me one good reason. I have no reason to keep going. My family, my brother wants nothing to do with me, and without him I have nothing. I wish I had never been born."

"I could point out your company, your money, and that you have millions of women willing to give you a family of your own but I suppose that that isn't enough for you is it?"

"No."

"I thought not. I was hoping that you would see reason but you are me after all. Looks like I have no choice but to go with the usual-showing you what the world would be like without you."

"Ok Clarence, that sounds like fun but I'll pass. I know what the world would be without me: the same. I haven't done anything to benefit the world or the people in it. And without me it would keep on turning."

"I think you'll find that the world without Seto Kaiba may not be as rosy as you believe. And by the way, the name is Seth."

A white light enveloped them and they were gone.

The light faded and Seto found himself in broad daylight in downtown Domino with Seth. The city didn't look any different to him and he thought that he was right. Nothing had changed.

"Don't be so smug. This proves nothing. Now where should we start? I suppose we'll just go visit some of your friends. That usually works even on the most stuck up, hard headed fools."

"I don't have any friends." Seto said flatly.

"Fine, acquaintances then, or enemies, I really don't care what you call them. Ra you are an Asshole."

"I live to please."

"I knew I should not have let the Pharaoh talk me into this. If he wanted you redeemed he should have done this himself."

Seto looked at Seth with mild surprise. So Atem was behind this waste of time. Seto wasn't surprised his former rival would want him to live, he always was a do-gooder save the world type. Someone who Seto still wished was around, just because he made for a decent challenge.

While Seto was thinking these thoughts, Seth had composed himself and with his reincarnation distracted he whisked them to their first destination. The structure was an old, dilapidated apartment building with at least an inch of dust on most everything. Sitting in the middle of this room was a man with long white hair and an equally long and bushy beard. He looked vaguely familiar to Seto and he glanced at Seth with an unspoken question.

"Maximilian Pegasus, creator of Duel Monsters." Seth said.

Seto looked at the shell of a man before him and couldn't help but ask: "what happened?"

Seth looked at Pegasus and sighed. "You happened; or rather the lack of you happened." Seto raised an eyebrow and he continued. "Duel Monsters debuted and had amazing success at first. But without the holographic technology your company created, it was a fad that ran its course and faded away. Pegasus spent everything he made trying to find the Millennium Items to resurrect his wife and bankrupted himself. Some time later he lost his mind to the visions created by the Millennium Eye. He now lives here, a home for the insane and this is where he will die."

Seto looked at his former enemy with a mixture of disgust and pity. As much as he hated him, Pegasus deserved better than this. But still, if the consequence of his not being was Pegasus' losing his company, his money, and his mind, it wasn't so bad. "I'm still not convinced that I matter to the world. You're going to have to do better."

Seth smiled sadly. "There are far worse outcomes ahead." As he said this they faded again and reappeared on the street outside a familiar game shop. "Enter." he said.

Seto walked in find an empty, dusty store with a very bored looking young man with strange hair behind the counter. He wore the Millennium Puzzle around his neck and was idly doodling on a piece of paper. Seto looked at him closer. While it was clear that this boy resembled Yugi Moto in appearance, he had almost no life in his eyes. Again Seto turned to his tour guide and glared. "I have been to this shop several times in the last few years and its never this empty. Or dusty."

"Well without you Yugi never developed into the king of games. He didn't win fame and fortune in Duel Monsters since by the time he was old enough to really grasp the game it was already on its way out and this little shop is like any other that sells board games, or card games-becoming extinct as electronic games take over. 6 more months like this and the shop is done. Also due to his lack of money he was unable to afford the treatments for his Grandpa and with no other family he is alone."

"Alone," Seto said. "what about the rest of the geek squad? As I recall they never leave each other alone."

"Now we are getting closer to the truth. I believe we'll start with Tea Gardner and her husband Ryo Bakura."

"Husband?" Seto asked, unable to hide his surprise as the scenery shifted again and what had been a dirty game store was now a pleasant suburban neighborhood, white picket fences, the works. It was also hot and sunny even though it had been winter when they left.

"Yes" was all Seth said as he walked up to and through the front door of the house. Seto followed.

Inside the house Tea Gardner sat reading a magazine. Several pictures were on the mantle of her and Bakura spoke to a happy marriage. But something was definitely wrong with the whole scene. Maybe people who have been abused are better at spotting it than others but to Seto the clothes she was wearing, long pants and sleeves despite it being almost 90 degrees in the house, and the way she kept glancing nervously at the clock told him what he needed to know. The thing was he couldn't picture the Ryo he knew, quiet, shy, and British, doing something like this. Again his guide answered a question he didn't ask aloud.

"Had she married just Ryo Bakura, everything would have been fine. But because he still has the ring, and you weren't around to start in motion the Pharaoh's eventual defeat of his evil, Zorc has taken control of Ryo permanently. Now Tea prays while he is gone that he won't come back, and while he is here that she will die."

As soon as he said these words the door opened and Bakura stepped in. Tea backed away in fear and Seto instinctively stepped between them. Even as a ghost Seto could smell the alcohol on his breath and feel the evil that exuded from his being. Zorc laughed and started advance on his wife when the scene shifted again. It was once again winter and they stood in a cemetery.

"What the hell!" Seto yelled. "How can you just leave her there? Even I'm not that much of a bastard."

"No choice." Seth replied. "We aren't really here and therefore you could have done nothing. It just would have given you more nightmares."

Seto felt terrible. He never really liked Gardner or any of the others, but he still was feeling like he committed a mass murder.

"Appropriate thought.' Seth said. "as you'll see."

Seto looked at his surroundings again. "Where are we?"

"Domino Memorial Cemetery." Was the reply.

"There isn't a cemetery called that in Domino, especially not one this size." He said as he looked around. It went on for miles in every direction.

"In YOUR Domino there is no cemetery like this. Here though, it just one on many around the world."

"I don't see why we're here. Short of a car accident or something else likely not my fault none of the geek squad would be here, they're too young."

"Are you so sure?" Seth asked and pointed to a headstone behind Seto.

Seto looked at the stone and felt as though he had just been kicked in the gut. Two of the names on the small gray stone were unreadable but the other two seemed to scream at him.

* * *

Joseph Wheeler----------Serenity Wheeler

Died July 23 1995......... Died July 23 1995.

* * *

"What..." Seto trailed off as looked at the stone.

"Tristan Taylor is here too, buried about three rows that way." Seth stated pointing off to his right. "And to answer your question, you didn't happen."

Seto looked at him blankly. He couldn't wrap his head around this. He had never liked Joey but he didn't want him to die, and as for Serenity he hadn't know her that well but again he didn't want this for her. "How?" he asked.

"Well since you didn't exist, your step father Gozoboro, retained control of Kaibacorp. Which means that it continued to produce weapons, including biological weapons."

Seto looked at him with horror. It made perfect sense. One of Gozoboro's weapons went off and killed everyone. And he didn't have to wait long for confirmation.

"An illegal weapons development plant on the west side of the city had an accident. A biological weapon that they developed broke containment in very large quantities. It got into the air and by the time it was over, almost half the population of the town was dead. Your step father escaped the country and continued to develop these weapons. There are now twelve such cemeteries in the world, mostly in third world countries. If you factor the people killed by other weapons developed by Kaibacorp after the date of your takeover, he total dead is right around fourteen million."

Now Seto was literally sick. Fourteen million people and it was all his fault.

"It gets worse. In three months his new stepson will turn him over to the authorities..."

"How is that worse?" Seto asked.

"Because this person did not have your will or resistance to the darkness. Because of this he is even worse than Gozoboro. You thought fourteen million was bad, it was just the start."

"Who could be that evil?"

"His name is Zane Truesdale. And like you Gozoboro got to him through a younger brother. The difference is that unlike you, his desire to protect his brother was not as strong as his desire for power. That desire fuels him and makes him a very dangerous young man.

"I know that name. I think he goes to my Duel Academy. He was supposed to be pretty good."

"He is. That is why Gozoboro picked him. He always wanted to best, and Zane scored so well on his tests he became a local celebrity. Gozoboro heard about him on a business trip and, after he met him decided that he would be perfect to be his heir."

"As I recall Truesdale isn't an orphan, so how did Gozoboro get to him?"

"Simple, he arranged for his parents to have a little 'accident'. After that it was a simple matter to pay off unconcerned relatives and gain custody of Zane and his younger brother Syrus."

"I hate that bastard." Seto growled.

"I have a particular dislike for him as well." Seth agreed.

"Alright, you've convinced me. It was good thing I came along, if nothing else to stop this from happening. I'm ready to go back." Seto stated. He knew he was going to have guilt nightmares about this, even if none of it happened.

"To go back? You're still not there yet. Close, but not yet. I think this last one will do it though. I always save the best for last." And with that Seth raised his arms and they were gone.

As the light faded Seto blinked. "Is it possible to get eye damage from a hallucination?" He asked.

"And that is why you're not ready to leave. You still think this is some alcohol induced fantasy. Until you learn to accept these lessons as the truth, you'll continue on your downward spiral. Someday you will kill yourself and nobody will be able to stop you."

"And why would that be a bad thing? You showed me a world without me in it. It get that it sucked and I did some good, but that was what the present would be like without me. I know that none of that happened, the present is fine so why won't you and that meddling Pharaoh of yours just get the hell out of my life."

"Because if you managed to do so much for the world in twelve short years how much good could you do with another sixty? Have you even considered that? So you got in a fight with your brother, big deal. Families fight, bitterly, sometimes for years. You're not unique in that. What is unique is that you and your brother have a very powerful bond. Stronger than any I've seen. It will take more than this petty squable to tear the two of you apart. It will get better. How do you think Mokuba would feel if you killed yourself? Can you live, or rather die, with the guilt of knowing what you're doing to your only family?"

Foe most of Seth's tirade, Seto had looked at him with a look of indifference. By the end he had hung his head in shame and was fighting the urge to cry. Seth looked at him with a faint smile. He knew that he had at last gotten through to his thick-headed reincarnation. His job was almost done.

"Now look at where we are. And then tell me you want to leave Mokuba alone."

Seto looked around. They were in a small room with bars over the door and window. 'This is a prison.' Seto thought. He then noticed a young man sitting on the bunk, the only furniture in the room. He was not very tall, standing about five foot nine. His hair was black but it wasn't until Seto saw his eyes, those charcoal colored eyes that he realized he was looking at his brother. His brother. In prison. "What the hell happened?" He asked in little more than a whisper.

Seth sighed. "Even without you Mokuba still ended up in an orphanage. But this time he didn't have you to look after him. He got beat up a lot and that led to him developing social problems. He never got along with people and when he turned eighteen he fell in with a bad crowd. With no role model, he became just another predator on the streets exploiting the weak to get by. Until he got caught and ended up here. He'll be out in a few months but he'll always come back, if not here that another prison, because he simply knows no other way to live."

"It's a good thing that I was there then isn't it?" Seto said. Never taking his eyes off of Mokuba.

"Yes it was. But your job isn't over. Mokuba still needs your guidance; he still needs someone to look up to. He's still young as you are, you both still have so much to experience, and you're going to need each other. I think it might be time to bury the hatchet, or extend an olive branch or whatever and makeup."

Seto nodded mutely as the scene faded before him.

When his vision cleared Seto found himself standing on the bridge, an almost empty bottle of gin in his hand, looking down at the dark waters. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. 'Was it all a hallucination after all?' he thought. 'No, it must have been real I don't have that much imagination. Besides if it wasn't, I wouldn't be sober right now.' He stumbled as he tried to walk. 'Mostly.'

"Well wasn't that enlightening?" Seth said for his side.

Seto glanced at him with a slight smile. 'I'm not crazy after all.' he thought. "Yes it was. I think I may go to work tomorrow."

"Work?" Seth said sounding angry. "What about your brother you jerk!"

Seto smirked. "Work first, play later. I need to get my life back in order, then I'll locate Mokuba."

Seth seemed to relax at this. "Alright as long as you're going to apologize and makeup I guess my work is done."

Seto decided to goad the annoying spirit a bit. Might as well start practicing annoying people now. "Who said I was going to apologize? I'm going to find him and accept HIS apology."

"What!" Seth yelled. "That has got to be the most outrageous thing I've ever heard. You were the one who acted like a fool, you should go crawling on your hands and knees and beg for forgiveness!"

"I am Seto Kaiba, I don't beg."

"By Ra, why did I waste so much time on this! If this was Egypt I'd control you with my Millennium Rod and force you to apologize."

"It's a good thing this isn't Egypt then, isn't it? And," he waved his hand through Seth, "you lack the substance to do much to me." He was really enjoying this but he must have showed too much of his mirth on his face because Seth mouth fell open for a moment and then he glared at him.

"You son of a Jackal! You dare to test my patience in such a way?"

"You should've talked to Atem more. I used to try his patience all the time. It was fun." Seto smirk grew with the fond memories of his departed rival's face turning purple with frustration as Seto stubbornly insisted that magic wasn't real, even though a part of him had always known it was. It had been good to be able to do that to someone again.

Seth muttered a few curses in Egyptian under his breath, then took a deep breath to compose himself. "Very well, I leave you. Don't ever try to do something so stupid again."

"No promises." Seto replied.

Seth sighed again; his reincarnation was a very frustrating man, then nodded and vanished.

Seto started to walk home and as he did so he couldn't help the small smile on his face. Knowing that he had made such an enormous difference in the world made him feel special, like he hadn't felt since he was a child. It was like the darkness had been lifted from his soul. He had never doubted that everything he had gone through had been worth it for Mokuba, but it had apparently been worth it for the world as well. So what if he helped Pegasus? It was a small price to pay.

When he got home it was after dawn. Seto couldn't help but chuckle at the scene that awaited him when he reached the parlor. Roland was screaming into the phone about how he had come to the mansion to take stock and check on Seto, only to find him gone. The man's eyes were big enough to be seen around the dark glasses he usually wore and he looked like he was on the verge of a heart attack from panic. Seto walked into the room right behind Roland. "Good morning."

Roland's scream reverberated off the rafters as he spun in a comical fashion and actually fell trying to spin around to face the speaker. "Mr. Kaiba! Where have you been?! I was so worried, are you alright? Do you need help? Can I get you anything?" The man continued his rambling until Seto held up his hand.

"To answer your questions, I went for a walk, I'm fine, I do not require assistance, and yes, there are several things you can do for me. First I want you to find me a razor and some shaving cream, then I want you find out where the maids, butlers, gardeners, and cooks that used to work for me are and offer them their jobs back with a fifteen percent raise, and third, when they arrive, I want you to set them right to work cleaning this place up. I let it go to hell and it really needs it."

Roland stared at him for several seconds like he had grown a second head. Then he snapped to attention, nodded and grabbed his phone making the appropriate phone calls as he made his way to the door. Seto smiled; glad he had such a competent employee and went up stairs to shower. It took him awhile to find clean clothes and towels as it had been some time since he had had laundry done but he finally found the only clean clothes in the place were his old Battle City trench coat and his usual black shirt and pants that had been on a display dummy. He had stopped wearing such things years ago, but now it felt right. It fit like an old comfortable shoe and he hadn't felt so...normal in a long time. When Roland returned and he finally shaved off his beard, looking in the mirror was like looking back in time. He remembered that face, that made all the ladies throw themselves at his feet, his eyes that had been so lifeless, now shone with the intensity that could intimidate any adversary, and his mouth, that had held a near constant frown in recent weeks was curled into his infamous smirk. Oh yes, it was good to be back.

For the first time in months he went to work, and after looking over the books, only fired one person, for embezzlement, otherwise he was very pleased with the work done in his absence. He was feeling so good in fact, that he even got out his deck and went down the Kame game shop to play a few games of duel monsters with Yugi, finding even when he lost, two out of three, that he enjoyed it. He enjoyed beating Wheeler ten straight even more, but overall it was an amazingly good day. It only got better when he returned home that night. Not only did he have his staff back, but that had made remarkable progress cleaning the mansion and only the east wing remained for tomorrow. His office, the first room that was cleaned, was spotless, except for the large pile of unopened mail on the desk. He sighed, and then grinned like a kid as he started to go through two months worth of mail. He knew he wouldn't have to deal with bills or company papers since Roland made sure the bills were paid and the right documents got the right people. A lot of it was just junk mail but he got a chuckle out of it anyway. He found the Christmas card Yugi had mentioned and smirked when he noticed that beside the well wishes form Yugi, Tea, and the rest of the geek squad was a crudely drawn middle finger with in initials J.W. under it. He saw other cards, usually from the heads of companies trying to get on his good side and discarded them, except the one from Pegasus which included a card that he was sure Pegasus found quite funny: Kaibaman. If Pegasus had thought to insult him by giving him that card then he would have been disappointed, with all he had learned he couldn't help but smirk at himself as a superhero. He was almost done with the pile when a small envelope with gold print attracted his attention. He picked it up and looked at it, knowing instantly what it was: his invitation to Mokuba's wedding. He opened at looked at it, checking the date. Two days. He couldn't believe that he had allowed himself to wallow for six months. He had wasted so much time and his brothers wedding was only two days away. It pained him to note that invitation was from Rebecca, Mokuba hadn't signed it, and that told Seto he was still mad. He really couldn't blame the kid...no Mokuba was not a kid anymore; he was getting married for crying out loud! He was a man, and Seto was now wise enough to realize that he had raised him well, and Mokuba could make his own choices.

He checked the number printed on the invitation and dialed, hopping that he would hear his brother's voice on the other end. Instead he heard the distinctive voice on Rebecca sounding like she was ready to unleash hell on whoever was interrupting her.

"WHAT! What is it now! Let me guess the flower arrangements are delayed, or maybe the caterer backed out! I mean it's not like anything associated with this wedding could actually go right!"

Seto tried to keep from laughing. It wasn't really funny that his brothers dream wedding was going to hell but hearing how angry Rebecca was, and picturing the look on her face, he almost couldn't help it. "Hello Rebecca, I take it things are well?"

"Oh real funny you asshole, who the hell is this anyway?" She snapped.

"This is Seto Kaiba." He said and heard the sound of the phone hitting the floor, a muffled "Shit!", and then the sound of Rebecca walking quickly away from the commotion he could so plainly hear on her end.

"Seto, how are you? We haven't heard from you in months. What do you want?" She asked.

"To answer your question, I'm better than I've been in months, and I was calling to see if it's too late to R.S.V.P. on the invitation for the wedding."

"No, of course it's not too late, I mean you're family, you're always welcome."

Seto almost thought he was going to cry at that moment but he continued: "I'm glad to here it. I know that I haven't exactly done right by you or Mokuba, but if you'll let me, I'd like to start making up for that. I'll be on the first plan to Miami and I bet that I can even help to make sure everything runs smoothly. You don't get to be a successful business man without knowing how to make incompetent people work efficiently."

Rebecca smiled. "That would be most appreciated. I'll let Mokuba know you are on your way so he can pick you up at the airport. Just one question, do you want the steak or the lobster at the reception?"

The mention of food made Seto's stomach growl. "Uh, could I get both by chance?"

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Well that's it. I hope you liked it.

Tell me what you think with the little purple button.

Later,

OZ


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